Finals and Christmas

So I found this on a random search for a Christmas Tree picture that I was going to up on this post, but I thought this one was cooler. They are Mountain Dew cans.. How clever is that? Well, I just wanted to do an update for the week. I am starting my finals and I am pretty stressed, but I only have 2 1/2 more days of it left to go. I have a final tomorrow, on Wednseday I have a final and 2 small presentations, then Thursday I have a final at 8:45 in the morning and then it's goodbye Rexburg that afternoon! I can't wait to get out of here. It's cold and snowy and lacks my fiance.

Adam is actually on a Caribbean cruise right now. He sailed off yesterday with some of his friends. Lame I didn't get to go huh? But I don't get to talk to him for a full week so not until next Sunday the 20th. I think this will be the longest we will go without speaking since we first met last January. It's only Monday and it already feels really weird and lonely. But it's ok, because now I can just focus on my finals.

For Relief Society last Thursday we were able to sponsor a family for Christmas who lives in Rigby. We gathered money for them then we went shopping and bought presents for them all and bought them food for a nice meal. After we went shopping, we went back to the apartment lounge and wrapped everything up. We packed ourselves in cars and drove to their house where we dropped the presents off at their door. We all hid and someone knocked on their door. They unfortunately weren't home, so we waited around for almost an hour and hid in our cars so that we could watch this cute family find their gifts on their door step. It was such an amazing experience. They had an 8 year old girl and she just ran to the presents. It was seriously so cool. I hope that I can one day incorporate a tradition of giving like that into my own family.

I have been listening to Christmas music lately to get into the Christmas spirit but it makes it really hard when you don't have your family with you and you are pretty much alone. Christmas, to me, has to include family otherwise it's just not Christmas. But I am soooo excited to get home. Then Christmas can start! Well I just wanted to update everyone on what's going on with me. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!!

Yeehaw!! Merry Christmas!

Adam doesn't know I put this up, but I thought it was pretty hilarious. So Merry Christmas everyone! Here's a little dance for ya'll!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Set the Date!

I called the Sacramento temple and the date is set! It looks like we are getting married

Saturday
April 10, 2010

in

Sacramento, California

I was pretty excited because April 10th just seems like a really good day. It has always been an important day for me because it is my best friend Monica's birthday. So happy birthday Monica! I'm getting married! I researched some things about this day and it turns out that April 10th is the 100th day of the year! That has to be good luck right?! Then I of course had to look up for the average weather for that day in Sacramento and this is what I found:

April 10th

Sunrise: 6:35 AM

Sunset: 7:37 PM

Avg High: 70°F

Avg Low: 47°F

Mean: 58°F

Rec High: 90°F (1989)

Rec Low: 39°F (1975)

The month of April has an average rainfall of 1.82 inches. That's not too bad compared to March which is 4.3 inches.This doesn't sound too bad if you ask me. I wouldn't mind 70 degree weather. Now I just need to make sure it is sunny! I can't wait to see how it goes. I'm going to start praying early for nice weather.

The Zoo

November 25

One day we took Adam's nephews Karson and Kooper to the Zoo. It was fun to check out all the animals and chase after the boys as they went from animal to animal saying "You guys! Look! GUYS!" Haha... it was a lot of fun. It was like a shot of how maybe it will be with our own kids in the future.

Tennessee Aquarium

November 24

Adam's dad hooked us up with tickets to the aquarium in Chattanooga. It was amazing and so much fun! I am amazed at all the cool things there are under water. We saw penguins, crocodiles, jelly fish, lots of fish, frogs, snakes, sharks, and pretty much anything else you can think of! It was a fun activity to do the first whole day that we were engaged.

We even got to see butterflies! They had a butterfly room and it was so cool! There were butterflies everywhere and they would just land on you!! Adam had like 5 land on him though before any would land on me. And they favored his butt for some reason. The people around thought that that was pretty hilarious and I did too!

Silly Pictures :)

Here is an accumulation of some of our silly pictures that we took together. Adam and I always have a lot of fun together! That's one of the very many reasons why he is the man of my dreams!

Engagement Pictures Day 3

November 26
This was Thanksgiving day on Adam's grandparent's farm. We went on a hike with his family to a cave and it was a lot of fun. It just made me realize how out of shape I am though! I have to work out to get ready for April 10th! Woohoo!

Engagement Pictures Day 2

November 25

This was day 2 of taking pictures!

Engagement Pictures Day 1

November 24

This was while I was on my trip to Tennessee and the day after we got engaged. His sister Kristi was very kind and took a lot of pictures of us that turned out beautifully. Here are just a couple of my favorites that I compiled together in a collage. Just click on it and it should get bigger. I really like this whole engaged thing! It's really fun!

I'm Engaged!!

November 23

After almost 8 months of dating, Adam and I are now engaged! I can't believe it. It was so unexpected. Adam and I hadn't even ever talked about marriage. I wanted to, but I didn't know if he wanted to. But I guess it was on his mind all along! He actually bought the ring while he was in Rexburg visiting me. It makes it so special that he was the one to pick it out. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. It's perfect! I am so happy!

So how it happened was that Adam told me he wanted to take me out to a nice restaurant in downtown Chattanooga and that maybe I should dress up nice and wear heels and stuff which I was totally down for. So we drive to this really fancy and nice Italian restaurant by the Tennessee River called Tony's. We had a view of the river from our table. After we ate, we decided, or I guess it was planned to go on a walk around because it was so nice outside. We walked by this museum and it took me to the most beautiful spot where we could see the river better and we were kinda on a ledge. The place! You an see the ledge that the random person is standing on, that's where he did it.

And that is where he proposed to me!! I was in shock! At first he told me he got something for me a little while ago and he unzipped his jacket pocket and took out a ring and got down on one knee. He asked me to marry him and I sat there for a while in shock and not saying anything except for "Are you serious?!" It was so unexpected I thought maybe it wasn't real. Then he said "Please?" Haha. I realized I hadn't answered him yet so I said "Yes! of course!" We then walked around some more then drove back to his house. When we got there, Adam's nephews Karson, Kooper, and Kutter were there and they greeted me with a pink rose each and there were hugs given and a warm welcome to the family.

Kutter (2), Kooper (4)
Me, Adam, and the ring :)

Then I went up to my room and there were candles lit and beautiful pink, white, and red flowers in vases everywhere. And there was a white cloth on the ground with a bunch of different desserts for us to eat. His sister Kristi gave me a beautiful blue flowered hair clip thing to put in my hair on my wedding day!! The romantic dessert picnic! There were other vases other places too.

It was just a perfect day! And it was kinda freaky because I had a dream the night before that I was getting engaged. This is to show that dreams do come true!

Now we are making wedding plans! We are hoping to get married April 10th in the Sacramento temple. But we will keep everyone updated! YAY! I can't believe I'm going to be a Sink!We went back the the spot where he proposed to me the day after.

New Moon's Coming Out!

Twilight with Cheeseburgers

In honor of another movie coming out for the Twilight series, I thought I would put up a video that I saw about it. I loved it! I'm excited to see New Moon this next week! I'm gonna take Adam with me.

Easy AMAZING Brownies

I was in charge of bringing dessert for our Relief Society dinner tonight and I got home late from studying and taking a test so I had to quickly whip something up with the limited ingredients I had like I always do and I found this AMAZING Brownie recipe on the internet. It was seriously soooo good! I don't ever want to lose it so I am posting the recipe. They are so bad for you, but it's almost worth it. No, it is worth it!
Scrumptious Brownies
1 cup butter; melted
2 cups flour
4 eggs
2 cups of white sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
frosting: 5 T. butter, 1/3 cup milk, 1 cup sugar
Add later - 1 cup of chocolate chips
1. Mix flour, sugar and cocoa in large bowl.
2. Pour in butter add eggs and vanilla.
3. Once all ingredients are in the bowl, mix well.
4. Pour onto a greased and floured 9x13 pan.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
6. The last five minutes of baking make the frosting.
7. Bring the frosting mixture to a boil and boil for 1 minute.
8. Remove from heat immediately and add:
9. 1 cup chocolate chips
10.Stir until smooth and pour over warm brownies.

Masquerade!

November 14

The 15th ward, my ward, had a masquerade dance last night and it was so much fun! It was a formal, but I didn't have any big dresses with me at school so I had to wear just a plain black dress, but that's ok. Then they had paper plates for us to make masks with. It was really fun to just dance. I haven't done that in a long time. It was a good bonding experience with the people in my ward. This is a picture with me and my roommates Monica, Valerie, and Deseret. This is before our masks! Ope, I can't tell who is who with our mysterious paper plate feathered masks on!!

Me and Monica before we disguise ourselves... I wish I had a big red dress like Monica...

Biscuits

I am getting really into finding good recipes that require common ingrediants that I have because I don't have a whole lot of money so I can't just go and buy all the ingrediants that you only put in one thing. I was really craving biscuits and gravy 2 days ago so I went on a search for a biscuit recipe that didn't require shortening or cream of tarter and I found this one! And it is way good and easy! I love biscuits.. it's probably one of my favorite foods especially with gravy or soup or stew poured on top of them! Yummy!
Biscuits

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon granulated white sugar (optional)
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Topping:
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (I just sprayed it with Pam)

In a large mixing bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (use pastry blender, two knives, or fingertips). Add the milk and slightly beaten egg and stir until just combined. (The texture should be sticky, moist and lumpy.)

Place mixture on a lightly floured surface and knead the dough gently until it comes together and is a smooth dough.

Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out biscuits with a lightly floured round cookie cutter. Place on prepared baking sheet and brush the tops with the beaten egg and milk mixture and bake for about 10 - 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the biscuit comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Serve warm with butter. (Or put sausage gravy on it or potato soup or stew! Mmmm....)

Makes about 12 3-inch biscuits.

Turkey Cookies

These are my favorite cookies to make for the Thanksgiving season because they are really easy and yummy and cute. :) I've made them 2 years in a row. Although, I'll probably have to skip this year because I have no money and I'll be staying somewhere else other than my apartment. (Tennessee!!) But I like them anyways...

Turkey Sugar Cookies

1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated sugar cookies
1 container (16 oz) chocolate creamy frosting
Candy corn
Orange decorating icing
Black decorating gel
Miniature candy-coated chocolate baking bits

(I usually just use white frosting then dye a little of it orange. But whatever works.)

Heat oven to 350°F. Bake cookies as directed on roll. Cool completely, about 20 minutes. Then
spoon chocolate frosting into resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag. Cut small hole in bottom corner of bag. On each cookie, pipe frosting on outer edge of half of cookie. Arrange candy corn over frosting for feathers. Pipe orange icing onto each cookie to resemble turkey face and feet. Use orange icing to attach baking bits to turkey face for eyes. Pipe black gel on baking bits for centers of eyes.

Duck Pond Attack!

November 3

Adam and I went to one of our favorite places, the duck pond in Rexburg for our last thing we did together before he left for Tennessee. I had some older bread that I needed to get rid of and I thought that I could just have a peaceful evening with Adam and a couple of ducks and feed them my stale bread. I was amazed, though, when we drove into the pond area, there were about what seemed to be a million ducks. I felt like I was in a scene from the movie The Birds! We parked and right as we got out of the car, there was a stampeed of hungry ducks!! One or two even began to bite and my leg for some food. These ducks were not scared of us at all! I even tried to run away from them for a bit because they were becoming too overbearing, but no, they chased me up the hill! And they were running fast! The whole situation was so ridiculous that I began to laugh histerically! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. It was a good last day. :)

I began feeding the ducks right as they attacked me before I could even really leave the parking lot.

This is where they started biting me. You can probably tell my my face that I was a little shocked!
I was looking for an escape!
I started running up the hill, but they ran after me!

I felt like their mother and they were my hungry baby chicks.

Adam took a turn feeding the ducks because I needed a break from the craziness!


Haha... I think Adam conquered the ducks in the end! He is the ruler of the ducks!

Pumpkin Night

October 30-31

We saw that Papa Murphys was selling Jack-o-Lantern Pizzas for Halloween and I thought that it looked cute, so Adam picked us up one to eat the day before Halloween. We also had pumpkin muffins so it was like our Pumpkin Night!I cannot go through Halloween with out carving a pumpkin, so Adam and I picked out a frozen one covered in Rexburg snow outside of Albertsons. We were going to carve it on pumpkin night, but we had to let it thaw for a day. It was that frozen! But this is the before picture before we did anything to it.
Adam's job was to cut off the top and scoop out the guts!

I had the job of carving it with a dull, woobly knife.
The after picture of us with our pumpkin. I think it turned out pretty good. I made it a happy pumpkin.
This is what it looked like outside on our balcony. It was pretty sweet! I love Halloween and this time of the year!!!

Flowers from Adam!

Adam suprised me with beautiful fall color flowers last week! He really is the best. My vase was packed with them! It makes my apartment look and smell so much better.

I'm so glad I'm dating a man who loves to give me flowers! :)

Here's a closer look